FLOWERY BRANCH - The public had a chance to give feedback to the Georgia Department of Transportation about the proposed new exit off of Interstate 985 at Martin Road during an open house at Martin Technology Academy of Math and Science Tuesday evening.
The meeting lasted from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. and was held in the school's cafeteria. Maps of the proposed exit and the subsequent widening of Martin Road were featured and representatives of GDOT were available to explain details of the development and answer questions from residents.
Some citizens were not pleased about the change. Wender Bulloch said he's concerned about the effect on the citizens who live in the Martin Road area.
"You're going to try to dump a large amount of traffic into a residential area," Bulloch said. "When you look at the map, you'll see that on the West side of 985, that's where most of your industrial area is. On the east side of 985, you will see a lot of residential area."
The goal of the interchange, according to GDOT, is to improve access to the interstate for both residents in the Falcon Parkway area and particularly for industrial traffic in the area of Thurmond Tanner Parkway and McEver Road. Bullock said he doesn't think the Martin Road extension is necessary to help industrial traffic.
"If the point is to get heavy traffic, as far as 18-wheelers, large trucks to (Interstate) 85 for example, build that interchange onto 985, go up to Winder Highway and from Winder Highway to I-85," Bulloch said. "I don't understand why you have to cut a four, five, six lane road through a residential area just to get over to Highway 53."
Charles Robinson, GDOT project manager for the proposed interchange, said the Martin Road expansion is not a part of the GDOT project which is scheduled to begin construction in June of 2017.
"The construction limits are going to end right in front of Martin Elementary School at roughly the second driveway," Robinson said. "Hall County does have a project to widen Martin Road."
That project comes from the Gainesville-Hall County Metropolitan Planning Organization's Transportation Improvement Program and is scheduled to begin right-of-way acquisition in 2027, with construction starting in 2032. Both projects were evaluated together in an environmental assessment by GDOT, which showed that 15 residential units would be displaced by the projects. Ethan Pilcher lives on nearby Martin Trail and said he thinks the road widening would improve safety.
"We've had some problems with tractor-trailers coming down Martin Road," Pilcher said. "If it's wider and double-laned it will help them get to the expressway and be safer for us and them."
